Showmen's Trade Review (Jan-Mar 1946)

SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW, March 2, 1946 67 ADVANCE DOPE TALK ABOUT A LADY (Col.) Drama. Principals: Jinx Falkenberg, Richard Lane, Trudy Marshall. Director, George Sherman. Plot: Wealthy owner of a New York night club, a former racketeer fakes his own death in an accident. He leaves his entire estate to a small town girl who had impressed him with her honesty. Then a society belle appears, claiming she is entitled to the estate because she was married to the "dead" man — secretly, so as not to impair her social standing. It's all smoothed out when the man makes his appearance, explaining why he perpetrated the strange prank. STAR FROM HEAVEN (MGM) (Color) Drama. Principals: Marshall Thompson, George Tobias, Clem Bevans. Director, Andrew Marton. Plot: When an orphan boy enlists in the Seabees, he leaves his ranch home in the care of an old friend. During his final leave before heading for the Pacific, he witnesses the death of his beloved mare "Bess." One night in the jungle, he frees a horse pinned beneath a fallen tree, renames her "Bess" and she becomes the mascot of his outfit. Bess saves his life after he is wounded and when he is sent home, she is transported to the States to join him. BLONDE ALIBI (Universal) Mystery. Principals: Tom Neal, Martha O'Driscoll, Donald McBride. Director, Will Jason. Plot: On the eve of marrying a rich doctor, a young woman embarks for South America to seek a commercial flier whom she still loves after a two-year absence. Police take her off the boat for questioning in the sudden death of the doctor, shot with the flier's gun. Witnesses claim they saw the flier enter the doctor's rooms before the shooting. The case against the young man seems conclusive until a detective finds the murderer was a blackmailer whom the doctor was about to expose. The flier is cleared. THE GLASS ALIBI (Rep.) Drama. Principals: Paul Kelly, Douglas Fowley, Anne Gwynne. Director, William Wilder. Plot: A reporter marries a wealthy girl who has but six months to live because of a heart ailment. He plans to cash in on her huge estate after her death, and then marry his old sweetheart, a gangster's ex-moll. However, the young wife's health seems to improve and the reporter finally decides to murder her and make it appear a suicide. A new and unexpected twist traps him into a first-degree murder conviction. SISTER KENNY (RKO) Drama. Principals: Rosalind Russell, Alexander Knox, Dean Jagger. Director, Dudley Nichols. Plot: Sister Elizabeth Kenny, an obscure Australian nurse, discovers a new and effective treatment for infantile paralysis. She sacrifices her personal happiness in order to relieve the suffering of countless children but her path is repeatedly blocked by the skepticism of organized medicine. She is finally rewarded by the establishment of a Kenny Institute in America. JOE PALOOKA, CHAMP (Atono.) Drama. Principals: Leon Errol, Elyse Knox, Joe Kirkwood, Jr. Director, Reginald Le Borg. Plot: During a tour, a fight promoter finds a young boxer in a small town. With the help of a society girl, he signs the young man to a contract, and he wins a series of sensational matches. His training for the championship suffers because of misunderstandings with the girl and also because of a gangster who is trying to get him to "throw" the big match. The gangster is captured when he attempts to shoot Joe Palooka in the ring; Joe wins the fight and the girl. SPECTER OF THE ROSE (Rep.) Drama. Principals: Judith Anderson, iVlicliael Chekhov, ivan Kirov, Viola Essen. Director, Ben htecht. Plot: A ballerina loves and marries a halt-mad genius who murdered his first wite and dancing partner. Ihe ballet which tney produce together is a great triumph, in spite of his recurring moments of madness, when he tries to kill her. One night they tail to appear tor a performance she has realized ne IS hopelessly insane and has taken him to an obscure hotel. While she sleeps there, he goes into his dance routine which ends with his death-leap through a twentystory window. STRANGE LOVE (Para.) Drama. Principals: tiarbara Stanwyck, Lizabeth bcott. Van rietiin, Kirk Douglas. Director, Lewis Aiiiestone. ir'lot: Story of murder and the sinister shadow It casts over the lives of four people. A young girl kills her aunt. She Delieves the secret is shared by three others. Actually, one of them was nowhere near the scene ol the crime. Only he is able to escape the consequences. For him and his girl, there's happiness; for the others, death. THREE WISE FOOLS (AIGM) Drama. Principals: Margaret O'Brien, Lionel Barrymore, i^ewis btone, Edward Arnold. Director, i:.ddie Buzzell. Plot: Three selfish old men— a doctor, a judge and a banker — who live together on a huge estate, are startled one day by the appearance of a seven-year old girl, granddaughter of their long-lost love, who ran away to Ireland years before. When they realize she is the rightful heir to extensive property which they fancied belonged to them, they assume her guardianship, but their greed and selfishness disillusions the little girl and she runs away to a Convent. When they save the old oak tree which houses the fairies and leprechauns of her childish dreams, she returns to live with the three men. THE SEARCHING WIND (Para.) Drama. Principals: Robert Young, Sylvia Sidney, Ann Richards, Dudley Digges. Director, William Dieterle. Plot: This is the love story of three people, told against the background of history-making world events from Mussolini's March on Rome, to the Duce's inglorious death 23 years later. The triangle involves a newspaperwoman, in love with a diplomat, and the statesman's wife. ONE EXCITING WEEK (Rep.) Drama. Principals: Al Pearce, Pinky Lee, Jerome Cowan, Arlene Harris. Director, William Beaudine. Plot: While his home town prepares a welcome celebration for him, a war hero gets involved in a New York brawl with a gang of crooks, and wakes up later with amnesia. The crooks have learned of the $10,000 to be given him at his homecoming and, after telling him he really is a bank robber, they talk him into impersonating the hero and splitting the money with them. After a double-cross at the celebration, the young man follows the crooks to New York and they quarrel over the loot. This time a sock in the head restores his memory. BOSTON BLACKIE'S PRIVATE GHOST (Col.) Mystery. Principals: Chester Morris, Jim Bannon, Jelf Donnell. Director, D. Ross Lederman. Plot: Boston Blackie is suspected by the police when a young man is fatally stabbed during a seance which they both attended. Learning that the spiritualist has been blackmailing a wealthy woman, Blackie searches his offices and finds the body of another spiritualist. The society woman, too, is murdered before police apprehend the suspects, which frees Blackie of all suspicion. LONELY HEARTS CLUB (Rep.) Drama. Principals: Jane W^ithers, James Lydon, Raymond Walburn. Director, George Blair. Plot: A wealthy small-town girl in a big city gets mixed up with a man whose hobby is to marry wealthy women whom he meets through a matrimonial bureau. She agrees to marry him but his previous wives, whom he hasn't bothered to divorce, all turn up at the wedding. Also present is the bride's home-town sweetheart, who eases her out of the embarrassingrole of a bigamist's bride, by marrying her himself and making her like it. THE SHADOW'S SHADOW (Mono.) Mystery. Principals: Kane Richmond, Barbara Reed, George Chandler. Director, Phil Karlson. Plot: a newspaper columnist who has been blackmailing racketeers, is murdered in his office. The Shadow is forced to delay his marriage and investigate the crime because the murderer was wearing the Shadow's costume. The dead man's secretary is then killed and the key to their private files — an important clue — is stolen. When the killer is found and the racket exposed. The Shadow is cleared and free to marry his girl. PASSKEY TO DANGER (Rep.) Drama. Kane Richmond, Stephanie Bachelor, Adele Mara. Director, Lesley Selander. Plot: An advertising campaign by an ambitious young man inadvertently opens up a big embezzlement case that occurred many years before, and the three crooks involved are afraid their secret is about to be revealed. When the young man learns of all the sinister doings behind his innocent advertising stunt, he sets out to bring the crooks to justice. In spite of beatings and continued attempts at murder, he captures the criminals and gets the big reward paid by the embezzled corporation. STRANGE CONQUEST (Univ.) Drama. Principals: Jane Wyatt, Lowell Gilmore, Peter Cookson, Julie Bishop. Director, Jack Rawlins. Plot: A scientist in a jungle dies of fever after inoculating himself. His partner decides to publish a report of their discoveries in his friend's name, and he assumes the identity of the dead scientist. Soon the widow of the dead man appears and accuses the doctor of foul play. To convince her, the doctor's nurse inoculates herself and catches the disease. This, and the discovery of her husband's notebook, impresses the woman and she helps the nurse back to health. SONG OF ARIZONA (Rep.) Western. Principals: Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, George "Gabby" Hayes. Director, Frank McDonald. Plot: An old cowboy who has thrown open his ranch to homeless boys is told that the bank is about to order the place foreclosed. Roy Rogers arrives on the scene and takes an interest in one of the boys, the son of a notorious bank robber. The boy is about to follow in his father's footsteps but when Rogers tells him that his father is dead, he turns over the loot that was left to him and it is used to pay ofif the mortgage on the ranch. DRESSED TO KILL (Univ.) Mystery. Principals: Basil Rathbone. Nigel Bruce, Patricia Alorison. Director, Roy William Neill. Plot: Three identical music boxes made in a prison and auctioned in London hold the key to the hiding place of a stolen set of plates for engraving five-pound notes. Sherlock Holmes knows that several murders are the work of a gang connected with the stolen plates, but lacks evidence to arrest them. After an unsuccessful attempt on Holmes' life, he and Watson trap the trio of criminals in the process of finding the banknote plates.